Of Clarity
by Jadely
Summary: For the unexplainable moments in CT where all you can ask is, "huh?"
1. Collision

**This will be an ongoing project of sorts; a humorous look into some of the ridiculous things in Chrono Trigger that got me questioning a very deep and profound 'what the heck...!?' Lets face it: There are some things that make no sense in this game. And they're so nonsensical that I couldn't help but love them enough to write about 'em.**

**Disclaimer: You're safe today, Crono. **

**Not Disclaimer: I'd also take suggestions/situations from YOU into my sleeve, if you are so inclined. Reviews are wonderful.**

* * *

_**Collision**_

Having thoroughly distracted himself with every possible stand at the fair, Crono finally gathered his attention span and made for the first set of stairs towards his original destination- the clearing where Lucca was about to showcase her newest invention. "Gotta focus," he told himself firmly. "She'll kill me if I'm late... Or someone else if I'm not there to make sure everything goes right."

In his wondering how that seemed so familiar a thought, he nearly slammed into a blonde girl running aimlessly around the square.

"Whoa!" he yelped, jumping back just in time to avoid her, ever thankful for his sharp reflexes. "Sorry! I almost barreled you over there."

The girl ignored him and kept running in silent circles.

"Are... you okay?" Not even a glance was spared his way. Out of nervous habit, he chuckled and rubbed at the back of his head, eying the staircase from under Leene's bell hopefully. "Okay… well, I kinda gotta go... so..."

Seeing he wouldn't get a response, Crono began walking towards the stairs again, trying to ignore the fact that the girl seemed to be running closer and closer to him. Her circles became tighter until they were invading his personal space, bringing him to an awkward standstill.

"I'm sorry. Did you need something?"

Her pony tail slapped the back of his head with each turn she made.

"… er," he spat out a mouthful of hair. "Excuse me, please."

She began leaning against him.

"Lady?"

Feeling claustrophobic and not really sure what else to do, he attempted to walk around her when the air was very suddenly and harshly knocked from his chest. Somehow, their bodies had hit with enough force to send them flying across the cobblestone, which met Crono with a cruel, hard _thump._

The girl stood up abruptly and bushed off her back side before rushing over to him. "Hey! That hurt!"

"Oh, so you _can _talk." With unimpressed skepticism, he glared at her from the ground, hesitant to take her outstretched hand. Already he could feel a goose egg forming on the back of his head. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm so sorry!" She bent down to help him up, still sounding as if she hadn't really heard him. "Are you okay?"

"_Sorry_?" He wanted to slap himself, but he reached for her hand instead. "You're not sorry, and I'm not oka-"

As he was about to latch on to her grasp, her hands flew away to her neck. "Uh oh! My pendant!" She was back to running around in aimless circles again, this time shaking her head. "Don't tell me I lost it!"

His arm still hanging mid-air, Crono let it drop hopelessly and cranked his head backwards to see- as he suspected- the sparkling necklace just a few meters away. He sighed. Her circles were getting tighter.

"Stupid illogical plot devices..."

* * *

**I would tell you to try this yourself (it _will_ happen if you stand in the right place) but I feel evil doing something like that. Mostly. But really, don't do it. Save yourself. **


	2. Quack Omen

**_The Quack__ Omen_**

Stunned, the group watched as an enormous, Christmas tree-shaped structure elevated itself from the icy water of 12,000 B.C.

"Crap," Lucca spoke on behalf of the awed and gawking group. "That's the Ocean Palace, isn't it?"

"Once the Ocean Palace," Magus began in his ever-cryptic tenor, "now the Black Omen." Astounded and a little fearful, all eyes watched the last of the water spill from the hovering ship. It sailed up and came to a stop right in the way of what little sunlight had shone through the thick cloud cover.

"Wait…" Marle finally asked, more than a hint of suspicion in her tone as she turned to the wizard. "How do _you_ know what it's called?"

He looked at her blankly.

"You made that up. Didn't you? Because it's _black_ and _ominous._"

She could have sworn the corners of his lips twitched. Just a little. "… Omen and ominous don't-"

Marle threw a finger at him. "I knew it!"

"Anyway…" Lucca interrupted, drawing the attention away from Magus' twitching features and back to the important matter at hand. "We better get back to the future and check things out. There's no telling what kind of dangerous changes that thing could have caused!"

"I agree," Robo added monotonously, over-calculating as per usual. "Every small change in the past invokes a ripple effect on the fabric of the future. It would be good to know the extent of its significance in the future before we confront it here."

"...Basically what I said." Lucca nudged her glasses back into place. "So, to the future!"

/

The Epoch landed in the small clearing of Choras 600 A.D, and Lucca and Marle scrambled out. Sure enough, the Black Omen was still hovering high in the sky. It didn't look any less or more threatening than it had two minutes, er, 12,600 years ago, and no one was running around screaming about mass destruction from the heavens.

But they figured they'd play it safe, anyway.

They ran into the nearest house, barging in on an old couple who paid the intrusion no mind. "Excuse me, sir," she started, moving towards the seemingly oblivious old man standing by the window. "I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the Black Omen?"

"The Black Omen sparkles in the sun!" he commented, eyes glued to the window.

"Told you." Magus crossed his arms defiantly at everyone.

Lucca ignored him, insisting on getting _some_ information from the strange man. "Yes, what _else_ can you tell us about the Omen?"

There was a long, tense pause. He took a deep breath. "Tomorrow should be clear, too," he concluded thoughtfully, as though he hadn't heard her. _Had he? _

"Er, right. But I was wondering about the Omen. Is it-"

"The Black Omen sparkles in the sun!" he repeated in the same manner, his back still to them. "Tomorrow should be clear, too."

Lucca stared at him blankly for a moment. "…Let's try else where…"

But elsewhere was worse.

"Black Omen… Black Omen…" chanted the little blue imp in Medina Square. "We will always smile… on the Black Omen."

Magus smirked just enough to see the points of his teeth. "See? It's catchy. They made it into a song."

Marle shook her head. "I think its because it looks like a tree."

"Doesn't _anyone_ see a problem with this thing?!" Lucca smacked hers. "C'mon, maybe somebody _sane_ can give us some insight."

/

"Oh, hi Lucca!" Crono's mom called happily as the group invited themselves in the front door. "Isn't it a beautiful day out there?"

The inventor slumped into a chair, happy to see Crono's mom. Nothing else had presented itself as pleasant that day, but she smiled despite herself. "Everyone seems to think so. But I was wondering about the Black Omen. You've seen it, haven't you?"

"Yep, that Black Omen sure sparkles in the sun!"

"Mrs. Crono," Lucca looked very intently- almost desperatly- at the older woman. "Please; what does it mean? What's happening?"

The older woman looked at her curiously for a minute as through she were about to share something very serious, when suddenly she pulled a large laundry hamper out of nowhere. "Laundry!"

Mouth agape, Lucca could only sit there.

"So… I perceive there is no need to hurry to the Black Omen in 12,000 B.C?" Robo comforted the only way he could, which was really no comfort at all. "Lucca?"

Seeing the genius twitch, the sinking feeling that something was about to start on fire prompted Marle to push everyone out the door.

"Lucca?"

* * *

**How does Magus know it's called the Black Omen right off the bat? He knows before you even get up there. And WHY isn't anyone other than Melchior even SLIGHTLY concerned by the deathly looking Omen floating around? I remember running around and having everone talk about it as though it were part of the weather forecast, and I could imagine Lucca going just a little crazy at that.**


	3. Sssecrets

_**Sssecrets**_

"Watch out!" Lucca called to Marle and Frog as they came hurling down the stairs of the castle's newly installed basement- well, new in that the king from 600 A.D. had just begun construction on it when they left yesterday, and it appeared as a new addition to the castle in their time period. So really, it was 400 years old. Not new. But then again...

Stopping herself from over-thinking time travel complications, she and the others and peered around the corner.

"I knew it wouldn't be easy," Marle whispered. Sure enough, two beefy snakes blocked the doors to the rainbow shell, wiggling and bearing their fangs in the most evil manner possible. "It's going to be tough to find that shell, Lucca. They'll do everything they can to throw us in the wrong direction if I know that no good chancellor. We only have ten minutes to get back up there and prove that my dad is innocent!"

"Right," Lucca nodded, and the group burst out from around the corner, ready to fight their way through lies and trickery once again.

"Vermin!" Frog croaked heroically, drawing his sword in anticipation. "Prepare yourselves, you dish-"

"The boss is itching to avenge the grudge that's been in his family for thirteen generations!" interrupted the first snake. "Gee hee!"

The second one laughed just as loud, bouncing in place. "Yeah! He's gonna frame the king! Gaw haw haw!"

Lucca let her weapon slide to her hip as she shifted her weight. "… Uh… yeah. So, I'm guessing the Rainbow Shell is twenty-one rooms down from here to the left and guarded by other mindless blokes like you."

"Three," replied the snake, to their confusion. "It's three rooms straight down. Can't miss it."

Everyone was silent for a minute.

Marle finally shrugged. "Well… that was easy."

_Back upstairs…_

"Hee hee hee! It's not the plot you think!" the chancellor laughed to himself, ready to spew his clever, devious plan to the whole group. "I'm here to-"

"Avenge your ancestors from thirteen generations ago, blah blah blah, we know." Marle dead-panned. "Hurry up and change into Yakra XIII so we can kick your butt already."

The chancellor's finger remained frozen in mid-air for a minute, rather disappointed. "Y-Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Dumb and Dumber downstairs."

He sighed. "It's just so hard to find good help these days…"


	4. Whose Trigger?

_**Whose Trigger?**_

"I have just what you need!"

The streetlamp at the end of time was surrounded by the eager group of (mostly) hopeful-eyed heroes, but (most of) their focus was on the Guru of time, who was currently digging through his pockets thoughtfully and mumbling half-words under his breath. "Now where... I put that..."

Magus leaned impatiently against the fence, starting to regret telling the group about him at all.

"So it's true!" Lucca leaned in a little more than the others, her hope in the seemingly hopeless revival of her lifelong friend hinging on his every word. "You DO have something that can revive Crono?"

"Yes, if I can just find where I put that darn-" the Gaspar stopped suddenly and squinted at her. "Wait, who?"

"You know," her hands tossed in impatient circles. "Red spiky hair, strong silent type."

"Ohhh," he smiled strangely. "You mean Chrono!"

The group exchanged dry glances. "Eeeeyeah... that's what I just said."

"No, no, you said _Crono_. What you _meant_ was _Chrono_."

Frog blinked confusedly between to two. "Be they not one in the same?"

The Guru laughed, clipping his hands about instructively. "Oh ho ho; not even close! You're missing the H!"

"But Crono never spelt his name with an H," Marle objected suspiciously. Lucca gave an agitated nod of agreement.

"Heh heh, exactly! Because that's how _the game_ spells it. That's how _they_ want you to spell it..." the old man persisted with slowly drawn, suspicious emphasis. He pulled a large oval from under his coat and held it up as if to persuade them. "But they can't fool me! The egg is the _Chrono Trigger_, not the _Crono Trigger_."

"The 'game'?" Lucca wavered a skeptical step backwards. "What are you talking about? Come to think of it, why would you have an egg named after Crono, anyway? And why do you keep it in your-"

"Never mind that," Gaspar swatted at her and cleared his throat with something akin to a nervous chuckle. "I'm telling you, I can prove it! Lucca: how many letters are in your name?"

She crossed her arms, unimpressed.

"Five," he answered for her, holding five fingers up for emphasis. "Marle, how many in yours?"

"Well..." the princess looked unsure if she should answer him. "Five."

"Exactly. Glenn?"

Frog gave a leap of surprise. "How-"

"Five! Magus?"

Magus glared at him suspiciously.

"Er, _heh heh_," Gaspar scratched his nose, feigning innocence. "I mean, tall angry guy over there who I've never met but also has a five letter name... like Glenn... whose name I also guessed..."

"_Freak_."

"Er, anyway," Gaspar mumbled, trying to regain his train of thought. "The rest of you four-letter-namers don't count. Do you see my point? Not one of you has a name longer than five letters! Why, you ask?"

"Because the five letter name is the most common medium," Lucca guessed sarcastically.

"Because_ there's no more room!_ Hah!" The group looked at him blankly.

He sighed. "You see..." His hand gestures were getting more choppy and violent. "They had to c_ut _ the H out of Chrono for it to fit in the naming box at the start of the game. But they didn't change the rest of the places where it appears."

Their faces remained blank.

"Poorly planned cover up or _suspicious_ story line? Hmm?"

There was another round of blank stares before Ayla bound forwards with her own educated epiphany. "Cut egg for _eat_?_!_"

Slowly, Gaspar put a hand to his temple. "Just... take the stupid thing."

Upon walking away with the egg in hand and a confused crew at her side, Lucca couldn't help but ask, "Conspiracy theorist?"

"Yep," Magus confirmed. "100%"

* * *

**So then... Did the Chrono come before the egg, or the egg before the Crono? *Queue unsolved mystery music***


End file.
